October 29, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Reformation Sunday | The Life of Theodore Beza

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October 29, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Reformation Sunday | The Life of Theodore Beza

October 29, 2017
Reformation Sunday
The Life of Theodore Beza

Positioned on the Reformation wall in Geneva, Switzerland to the right side of his mentor, John Calvin, is the marble relief of Theodore Beza. Beza was the protegee of Calvin for the majority of his life and served at Calvin’s side as a teacher, a trusted confidant and remarkably, as a gifted apologist and negotiator. The statement, “We stand on the shoulders of giants” is particularly true of Theodore Beza. Today, in celebration of Reformation Sunday, we will review the life and contributions of this second-generation Father of the French Protestant Reformation.

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October 22, 2017 | Pastor Appreciation Sunday | Roger Melson | Jeremiah: The Prophet with a Burning Heart | Jeremiah 20:9

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October 22, 2017 | Pastor Appreciation Sunday | Roger Melson | Jeremiah: The Prophet with a Burning Heart | Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah: The Prophet with a Burning Heart
Jeremiah 20:9

One Sunday each year during the month of October, Twinbrook Community Church sets aside a Sunday to share its appreciation for our Pastor. This year Rev. Roger Melson, a longtime friend of Pastor Bayles, brought the keynote sermon. Today’s sermon highlights the life of the Prophet Jeremiah. Though he was perhaps the greatest prophet of Israel, he was also the least listened to by his audience. Over his forty-year ministry he had zero converts. Though he experienced calamity and persecution experimentally, he was sustained by a burning heart for the message of righteousness God had planted in his life.

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                                                  Roger and Marsha Melson

October 15, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Prayers of St. Paul: Living a Life Worthy of the Calling | 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

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October 15, 2017  | Pastor John Bayles | Prayers of St. Paul: Living a Life Worthy of the Calling | 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Prayers of St. Paul: Living a Life Worthy of the Calling
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

The historical context of this letter is Acts 17: Paul’s second missionary Journey; the inclusion of the author, Luke (see the sudden use of the personal pronoun “we” in Act.16, showing the moment Luke joined the team in Macedonia. The four of them visited Philippi and then set out south-west toward Thessalonica. There a huge disturbance started when Paul’s message that Jesus was the Christ enraged some Jews in the synagogue and over the course of a few days left the city at night in fear of being killed. He traveled on to Berea, then Athens and finally Corinth. From Athens Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to find out if his Gospel message had born fruit. Timothy found Paul and Silas (and Luke) in Corinth where he wrote the first letter to the Thessalonians. Because they stayed in Corinth eighteen months, Paul later sent a second letter to Thessalonica specifically explaining why God allows persecution, instructing them that the appearing of Christ would come after the great rebellion Christ declared in Matthew 24; and the coming of the lawless one, the Antichrist; and finally, that they must guard against being idle in the presence of the task of fulfilling Christ command to go into all the world. In this text, the Apostle Paul not only instructs the Thessalonians, but prays for them that they will be a clear reflection not of what they are believing or doing for God, but that they may be a clear reflection of who God is and what he has done for them thorough Christ.

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October 8, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Prayers of St. Paul: For the Israel of God | Romans 10:1-13

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October 8, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Prayers of St. Paul: For the Israel of God | Romans 10:1-13

Prayers of St. Paul: For the Israel of God
Romans 10:1-13

The prayer we will look at today is produced by a lifestyle left behind by the Apostle Paul. That life was once his passion; that life was once his obsession; that life was once his hard taskmaster. Paul is not longing to return to a life of a Pharisee, nor the broader life of Judaism. His longing is for those within these circles who are his family, his kin, yet now foreigners to him and faith in Jesus Christ. Though Paul seems to reminisce about the pleasure of their companionship, he does not drift too far from the realization that they are in two separate worlds and captivated by two covenants. From this new covenant context, Paul prays that his former brethren might be turned from turn their zeal for hypocritical righteousness – “I’m better than you,” to the righteousness of God provided by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Within this prayer is a model for us to follow. May the great Father of Hosts draw as only He can, the hearts of those for whom we too long to come into His marvelous Kingdom light.

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October 1, 2017 | Pastor John Bayles | Prayers of St. Paul: Praise God for His Work of Redemption |

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October 1, 2017  | Pastor John Bayles | Prayers of St. Paul: Praise God for His Work of Redemption | Romans 11:33-36

Prayers of St. Paul: Praise God for His Work of Redemption
Romans 11:33-36

Throughout the Epistle to the Romans, Paul has spent eleven chapters outlining, illustrating, and defending God's plan of salvation. God has closed a door: it is impossible for any person to please God, have a whole relationship with God or communion with God on the basis of his/her personal righteousness as he proclaimed – "There is none righteous, no not one" (Rom.3:23). God has opened a door: it is possible for a person to please God, have a whole relationship with God, and communion with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – "3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit" (Rom.8:3,4). God has ended an Old Covenent relationship: The Jews, though historically God's people, cannot come into a relationship with God by keeping the law, even though they are precious to Him and have a historical relationship to Him, they are hopelessly lost and under God's wrath. Gentiles cannot come into a relationship with God by becoming Jews or keeping the law. They are also hopelessly lost and under God's wrath. God has initiated a New Covenant relationship: Through Christ's atoning death and victorious resurrection, both Jews and Gentiles can come into a righteous relationship to God, but only through belief in the saving work of Christ's death, confessing Him as Lord and expressing belief in His resurrection from the dead. All of these mercies were accomplished before we were even aware that they existed: “1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Rom.2:1-3). This act of grace took place so that God alone might receive the glory for His kindness toward us. Only by grace can we enter. Only through the door, Jesus Christ. Paul now turns to offer a prayer of glorious thanks and praise to God for His work of redemption.

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